Animated sitcom

An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animated rather than live action. The American TV shows The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park and SpongeBob SquarePants are all animated sitcoms and are also the four most liked shows on Facebook, making the genre arguably the most popular on all of television.

Animated sitcoms, especially the ones from the 1990s onwards, have been criticized for their often explicit and extreme violent content that would not be permissible on a live-action show. In the United States, The Simpsons in the early 1990s and South Park in the late 1990s caused something of a moral panic.

Early history (1960–1986)

The Flintstones, which debuted in 1960, is considered the first example of the animated sitcom genre. The similar cartoon The Jetsons, which took place in the future rather than the past, followed in 1962.

Animated sitcoms have been adult-oriented and more controversial than traditional cartoons from the onset. The Flintstones was originally oriented at adults, as an animated version of The Honeymooners, though it was primarily popular with teenagers.

In the 1970s, the cartoon Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, often considered an influence on the contemporary Family Guy, debuted and further pushed the envelope. It ran from 1972 to 1974.

Rise of The Simpsons (1987–1992)

In 1987, The Simpsons shorts debuted on Fox's The Tracey Ullman Show. The first full-length episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", debuted on December 17, 1989. By the later part of 1990, The Simpsons were already iconic.

Expansion of the genre beyond The Simpsons (1993–1999)

The success of The Simpsons led to a boom in the animated sitcom genre. The Simpsons, already controversial in itself for its sometimes crude humor and animated violence, inspired the creation of the much more adult-oriented and controversial Beavis and Butt-head, in 1993 on MTV.

South Park, which debuted in August of 1997, pushed the envelope even further than Beavis and Butt-head. South Park features controversial religious and racial humor, black comedy, extreme violence, and profanity, almost unseen in any other cable television show prior to or since South Park's debut.

In 1999, another animated sitcom, SpongeBob SquarePants, debuted on Nickelodeon. Though originally oriented towards adults, the cartoon has become primarily popular with children, though it has a strong older fanbase.

Continued success (2000–present)

Though many animated sitcoms have only lasted several years or as little as several episodes, the four most popular, The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, and SpongeBob SquarePants, all debuted before the year 2000 and are still making new episodes as of 2012. In that order, as of January 2012, these are the four most popular of all television shows worldwide today and are among the longest-lasting non-soap opera fictional TV shows in history.